Timeline
The following lists the known chronology of the Lorien Legacies series. It is still incomplete and is a Work-in-progress. Forenote The codes refer to the order of the books, where "LL1", "LL2", "LL3" and "LL4" represent I Am Number Four, The Power of Six, The Rise of Nine and The Fall of Five. The Lost Files are appended, with their order, as "TLF1", "TLF2", "TLF3", "TLF4", "TLF5" and "TLF6" for Six's, Nine's, the Fallen Garde's Legacies, as well as The Search for Sam, The Last Days of Lorien and The Forgotten Ones respectively. Brackets, where applicable, direct to the specific chapter of the book. Key information The first crucial piece of information that links the plot directly with the timeline of human society is Sam Goode's birth date, revealed in The Power of Six as 4th January 1995. As Sam mentioned in the first novel that his father disappeared "eight years ago" when he was seven, he is thus of the same age as John Smith (or Number Four).For key references to age and duration, see LL1(16,19,21) and LL2(21). Hence the first novel is set in Fall 2010, and the remaining information can be henceforth derived from the narrations. Assumptions The books take on the underlying assumption that time maintains the same for the Loric or the Mogadorians as it does for Earth (as in, the Loric/Magadorians gain age at the same rate as humans, as undertold by the Garde's and Adamus Sutekh's narrations). Thus the "Year" listed below only represents the equivalent time duration on Earth. Though not entirely relevant, the age of Aeternus (such as Ella) cannot be confirmed unless their birth date is known. This is true for Ella; it is unknown whether the other Loric Aeternus' ages can be determined. Discrepancies There are many discrepancies in the novel with regards to the chronology, moon phases and ages of characters. These apply for published works only, and may be corrected or clarified in upcoming novels, to which some of the listed events in the timeline are subject to changes. #In TLF5, Sandor observed Brandon to be "a few years older" than him, but this is contradictory for Brandon would already be 39 years old then, according to Four's age reckoning. In this article, this is assumed to be Sandor's observational mistake. #In TLF5, Sandor identifies the ages of the nine Garde at the airstrip between infancy and six years, of which both are questionable, as One would have already been nine years old and Ten does not leave from this Loric ship. Coincidentally, a recall by Adamus in TLF3 also erroneously describes One as at most six or seven years old at that time. #In TLF2, Nine already had three ankle scars when he was captured in spring, and he stayed in prison for about a year. However, the events between the death of Three and Nine's release from imprisonment spanned across only five months from September to February. Chronologically, neither year for Nine's capture is possible. This article assumes that he was captured a year earlier. #While mentioned in LL2(18) that the date of Henri's imprisonment in Athens, Ohio is January 19, it is not possible as this event takes place during Thanksgiving in the first novel. This reference is ignored in this article. Though out of point here, there may be a certain connection between Number Four and the number 19, as the same number appeared on Bernie Kosar's collar tag when he first appeared as a dog. #On the Saturday night which the James house fire occurred, Four reported seeing a full moon in the sky. Considering the date between New Year's day and the next full moon on February 18 (mentioned in LL2), this would have to be on January 19 (see the lunar chart here), giving too little time for Four, Six and Sam's battle recovery and combat training as described in LL2, as well as being on a Wednesday which does not fit the plot. This article assumes that this event occurred on the first weekend after the resumption of school, and dates to approximately January 8. See LL1(24) and LL2(1). #In LL3, Eight relates how he has already developed Legacies before the death of his Cêpan eight years prior to the visit of Six, Seven and Ten. Assuming the development of Legacies in the Garde only start from about age 13, this effectively places him in his early twenties by then, clearly violating the age rule for which One is significantly older than the rest of the Garde. Considering his fighting abilities being fairly developed then, it is most likely that he has estimated the number of years wrongly. For now, the year is accepted until the age of Eight is confirmed in subsequent publications. #In TLF4, Adam recalled a note dated about 1 year old (when he viewed it) that required new Mogadorian prisoners to be sent to the Dulce base. This would date to approximately October 2009, before Nine was imprisoned, so it was a wonder why he was not taken to the Dulce base while Sam was thereafter. #Between LL2 and LL3, the Battle of Dulce happened 3 days before Four and Six's rendezvous, and thus 11 days after Four and Sam's capture at Paradise, Ohio where he last met his mother. This is coincidentally also the date on which Adamus and Malcolm free Sam from his Dulce prison, supported by both LL3 and TLF4. Hence, it is not possible for Malcolm and Adam to arrive only "weeks" after the final appearance of Sam at Paradise. Considering that their trip from Paradise to the New Mexico base takes about a week, it is more likely to be a mere 4-5 days between the visits of son and father. (Despite there being also a possibility of a 18-day gap between the captures of Four/Sam and Six, the latter's trip to the Himalayas was short enough to make neither durations actually feasible.) Chronology Blank fields denote unknown or unconfirmed information. For consistency purposes, the Garde's names are all represented in their numbers. Events prior to I Am Number Four Events since I Am Number Four 2010 2011 Notes